Official Frank Ntilikina Thread

[Clyde_Style]

I feel like those numbers need some context because I don't think them alone tells the whole picture on why that line up was so successful. I know it has a fairly large sample size but IIRC that line up was used a lot early in the season when both Vonleh and THJR were playing way above the back of their basketball cards. I'm pretty sure Timmy was averaging 26 ppg at one point this season and initiating the offense. Like if that line up was used in January, I'm pretty confident those offensive numbers wouldn't be as high.

It was happening during his rookie season as well though

The larger point is the net effect of Frank at the point was while he was not highly creative nor aggressive, he ran plays, did the PnR fairly well and as a result other players produced more with him at PG than other players. When you add in his defense, the overall +/- for the team was generally higher with Frank on the floor.

This is why he needed to work through whatever issues he has on offense either as a scorer himself or as a facilitator who could do more as a passer. He was not hurting the team, he was already helping the team and in that context he was worth giving time to so he could grow.

The comments that he was given a shot is neither true nor false. Other players were allowed to play through bad stretches while Frank was not. And Frank was benched by both Jeff and Fiz after some of his best performances which was BS and people wonder why his confidence was shaken.

Long story short, the logic behind handling Frank was not consistent with how the rest of the roster was handled and that is wrong.

I don't necessarily disagree about how Frank has been handled. I mean he's going to always have impact because he's a good defender and I don't think they should have gone away from that line up. I know that eventually having someone on the floor shoot so poorly like him is going to have a negative effect.

I'm just calling into question the use of that line up as proof as Frank as our best point guard because of how poorly his individual stats are and how the rest of the line up was playing at the time. Realistically how much of that offensive rating was Frank's doing? I bet if Frank doesn't miss half the year that line up wouldn't still have had a positive net rating.

Right and that dovetails with my point which is you could afford to play through his individual deficiencies as a sole offensive producer statistically, because overall he was still often a plus overall.

[iLLmatic860]

You don't have to spend all the cap, do you? You just get fined if you don't.

Also, I think GONYK was saying "Randle and others" came here because they got above market value, not because Fix was going to work with them and give them minutes.

That certainly helped.

But players like Randle and BP also came for the opportunity. If he balls out in NY, he will finnally get the respect and recognition he deserves

And im not even including all the extra money they can make from endorsements in NY.

Do you think they wouldn't have taken the inflated paycheck and the opportunity of a big market if Fiz didn't force-feed minutes to Mudiay?

Yes they would have taken it regardless lol

I just think alot played a part into the decision. Obviously im not behind the scenes but I think its def a good thing what Fiz is doing. Hes going to change the perception of the Knicks from a players point of view. It def helps imo

He gave Mudiay a fair shot and say what you want but he clearly improved. He went from nobody but trash teams like Knicks wanting him to signing with a playoff team



All im saying is that its a plus. That is all lol

[iLLmatic860]

Short term deals. We are supposed to spend all our cap. Nba rules

You don't have to spend all the cap, do you? You just get fined if you don't.

Also, I think GONYK was saying "Randle and others" came here because they got above market value, not because Fix was going to work with them and give them minutes.

Yup, that was my point. Thanks.

And no, you don't have to spend all your cap

I was misinformed then. Somebody kept saying that lol

[malik959]

That certainly helped.

But players like Randle and BP also came for the opportunity. If he balls out in NY, he will finnally get the respect and recognition he deserves

And im not even including all the extra money they can make from endorsements in NY.

Do you think they wouldn't have taken the inflated paycheck and the opportunity of a big market if Fiz didn't force-feed minutes to Mudiay?

Yes they would have taken it regardless lol

I just think alot played a part into the decision. Obviously im not behind the scenes but I think its def a good thing what Fiz is doing. Hes going to change the perception of the Knicks from a players point of view. It def helps imo

He gave Mudiay a fair shot and say what you want but he clearly improved. He went from nobody but trash teams like Knicks wanting him to signing with a playoff team



All im saying is that its a plus. That is all lol

Randle had other opportunities to make money else where from Milwaukee, Indiana...... Coming to NY was not just a great business decision, but It gives him a better opportunity to make himself known.

[iLLmatic860]

Do you think they wouldn't have taken the inflated paycheck and the opportunity of a big market if Fiz didn't force-feed minutes to Mudiay?

Yes they would have taken it regardless lol

I just think alot played a part into the decision. Obviously im not behind the scenes but I think its def a good thing what Fiz is doing. Hes going to change the perception of the Knicks from a players point of view. It def helps imo

He gave Mudiay a fair shot and say what you want but he clearly improved. He went from nobody but trash teams like Knicks wanting him to signing with a playoff team



All im saying is that its a plus. That is all lol

Randle had other opportunities to make money else where from Milwaukee, Indiana...... Coming to NY was not just a great business decision, but It gives him a better opportunity to make himself known.

Exactly. This is how we need to be taking advantage of our market. We have a huge advantage over small market teams.

Like I said its just the beginning of things to come if we stay on this track

[Capn'O]

You don't have to spend all the cap, do you? You just get fined if you don't.

Also, I think GONYK was saying "Randle and others" came here because they got above market value, not because Fix was going to work with them and give them minutes.

Yup, that was my point. Thanks.

And no, you don't have to spend all your cap

I was misinformed then. Somebody kept saying that lol

If you don't hit the salary floor the remaining $$$ up to the floor gets dispersed among the team's players.

[Clyde_Style]

Yup, that was my point. Thanks.

And no, you don't have to spend all your cap

I was misinformed then. Somebody kept saying that lol

If you don't hit the salary floor the remaining $$$ up to the floor gets dispersed among the team's players.

This is from NBA.com:

The National Basketball Association announced Saturday that the Salary Cap has been set at $109.14 million for the 2019-20 season. The tax level for the 2019-20 season is $132.627 million.

The Salary Cap and tax level go into effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on Monday, July 1. As announced by the league in May, this year teams can begin negotiating with free agents at 6:00 p.m. ET on June 30 -- six hours prior to the start of the league’s "moratorium period." The moratorium period ends at noon ET on Saturday, July 6.

The minimum team salary, which is set at 90 percent of the Salary Cap, is $98.226 million for the 2019-20 season.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement provides for three different mid-level exceptions depending on a team's salary level. The non-taxpayer mid-level for the 2019-20 season is $9.258 million, the taxpayer mid-level is $5.718 million, and the mid-level for a team with room under the Salary Cap is $4.767 million.

[B8RcDeMktfxC]

I was misinformed then. Somebody kept saying that lol

If you don't hit the salary floor the remaining $$$ up to the floor gets dispersed among the team's players.

This is from NBA.com:

The minimum team salary, which is set at 90 percent of the Salary Cap, is $98.226 million for the 2019-20 season.

But As Capn'0, GoNYK and Stannis are commenting, the question is what happens if the team doesn't meet minimum team salary (90% of the cap). And the answer is that sufficient money to take the team salary up to 90% of the cap is distributed to the players on the team (in a fairly transparent way, but with a few caveats about what happens if the money takes a player over his max etc (the rest of the team gets that portion of the money) and so on.

Here's the relevant part of the CBA (I've spoilered some of it for length). See (2) for what happens if team salary falls short

--------

(b) Minimum Team Salary.

(1) For each Salary Cap Year covered by the term of this Agreement, there shall be a Minimum Team Salary equal to ninety percent (90%) of the Salary Cap for such Salary Cap Year.

(2) In the event that a Team’s Team Salary for a Salary Cap Year as of the start of the Team’s last Regular Season game of that Salary Cap Year is less than the applicable Minimum Team Salary for that Salary Cap Year, the NBA shall cause such Team to make payments to the players who were on the Team’s roster during the Regular Season covered by such Salary Cap Year equal to the shortfall (to be disbursed to such players pro rata or in accordance with such other formula and roster requirements as may be reasonably determined by the Players Association). The Players Association shall provide the NBA with its proposed per-player distribution of any such shortfall within thirty (30) days after the completion of the Audit Report for such Salary Cap Year. The NBA shall cause the Team to make the required payments, less all amounts required to be withheld by any governmental authority, within thirty (30) days after receipt of the proposed distribution from the Players Association in accordance with the preceding sentence.

Spoiler:

(3) Nothing contained herein shall preclude a Team from having a Team Salary in excess of the Minimum Team Salary, provided that the Team’s Team Salary does not exceed the Salary Cap plus any additional amounts authorized pursuant to the Exceptions set forth in this Article VII.

(4) For purposes of determining whether a Team has met its Minimum Team Salary obligation for a Salary Cap Year in accordance with this Section 2(b), the Team’s Team Salary shall:

Spoiler:

(i) be calculated in the same manner as Team Salary is calculated by the Accountants for purposes of computing Total Salaries and Benefits in the Audit Report (as defined in Section 10(a)(1) below), except that with respect to each player that was employed by more than one (1) Team under the same Player Contract (i.e., in cases where a player’s Contract is acquired by trade or pursuant to the NBA waiver procedure) during the Salary Cap Year, the player’s Salary in respect of such Player Contract for the applicable Salary Cap Year shall be allocated as follows: (Y) the amount to be included in Team Salary for each such Team other than the last Team by which the player was employed under the same Player Contract shall equal the Salary in respect of the Player Contract for the applicable Salary Cap Year multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the total number of days of the Regular Season
that the player was on the roster of such Team and the denominator of which is the total number of days in such Regular Season (or, if the Contract was not in effect for the entire Regular Season, the number of days in such Regular Season during which the Contract was in effect); and (Z) the amount to be included in Team Salary for the last such Team by which the player was employed under the same Player Contract shall equal the player’s Salary in respect of the Player Contract less the amount of such Salary allocated to other Team(s) in accordance with clause (Y) above. For purposes of the foregoing calculation, any reduction in a player’s Salary for the applicable Salary Cap Year resulting from the termination of the player’s Contract shall be allocated to the last Team by which the player was employed under such Contract (after first performing the allocations described above before giving effect to such Salary reduction);
(ii) include any Salary in respect of such Salary Cap Year that is excluded from the Team’s Team Salary pursuant to Section 4(h) below; and
(iii) exclude any Salary in respect of such Salary Cap Year that is included in the Team’s Team Salary pursuant to Section 3(e) below.

Spoiler:

(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, if the sum of (i) the amount of a proposed payment distribution to a player for a Salary Cap Year pursuant to this Section 2(b), and (ii) the player’s Salary for such Salary Cap Year would exceed the player’s applicable Maximum Annual Salary for such Salary Cap Year, then such player’s proposed payment distribution for such Salary Cap Year pursuant to this Section 2(b) shall be reduced to the extent necessary for the sum of the player’s Salary and such distribution to equal his applicable Maximum Annual Salary for such Salary Cap Year, and the amount of such reduction shall be disbursed to the other players on the Team pro rata based upon each such player’s payment distribution amount under this Section 2(b) prior to any increases to such amount in accordance with this Section 2(b)(5). For purposes of this Section 2(b)(5): (i) a player’s Salary shall be calculated in the same manner as it is calculated by the Accountants for purposes of computing Total Salaries and Benefits in the Audit Report (as defined in Section 10(a)(1) below); and (ii) a player’s Maximum Annual Salary shall be deemed to be the amount calculated pursuant to Article II, Section 7(f)(i), (ii) or (iii) (as applicable) substituting references in such subsections to the “Salary Cap in effect at the time the trade bonus is earned” and “the Season prior to the Season in which the trade bonus is earned” with “Salary Cap in effect for the Season in which the Minimum Team Salary shortfall is incurred” and “the Season prior to the Season in which the shortfall is incurred,” respectively.

Spoiler:

(6) In accordance with Article IV, Section 6(d), the amount paid by Teams in respect of the employer’s portion of payroll taxes on payments made to players pursuant to this Section 2(b) shall be included in Benefits in the Salary Cap Year in which such payments are made.

[Capn'O]

If you don't hit the salary floor the remaining $$$ up to the floor gets dispersed among the team's players.

This is from NBA.com:

The minimum team salary, which is set at 90 percent of the Salary Cap, is $98.226 million for the 2019-20 season.

But As Capn'0, GoNYK and Stannis are commenting, the question is what happens if the team doesn't meet minimum team salary (90% of the cap). And the answer is that sufficient money to take the team salary up to 90% of the cap is distributed to the players on the team (in a fairly transparent way, but with a few caveats about what happens if the money takes a player over his max etc (the rest of the team gets that portion of the money) and so on.

Here's the relevant part of the CBA (I've spoilered some of it for length). See (2) for what happens if team salary falls short

--------

(b) Minimum Team Salary.

(1) For each Salary Cap Year covered by the term of this Agreement, there shall be a Minimum Team Salary equal to ninety percent (90%) of the Salary Cap for such Salary Cap Year.

(2) In the event that a Team’s Team Salary for a Salary Cap Year as of the start of the Team’s last Regular Season game of that Salary Cap Year is less than the applicable Minimum Team Salary for that Salary Cap Year, the NBA shall cause such Team to make payments to the players who were on the Team’s roster during the Regular Season covered by such Salary Cap Year equal to the shortfall (to be disbursed to such players pro rata or in accordance with such other formula and roster requirements as may be reasonably determined by the Players Association). The Players Association shall provide the NBA with its proposed per-player distribution of any such shortfall within thirty (30) days after the completion of the Audit Report for such Salary Cap Year. The NBA shall cause the Team to make the required payments, less all amounts required to be withheld by any governmental authority, within thirty (30) days after receipt of the proposed distribution from the Players Association in accordance with the preceding sentence.

Spoiler:

(3) Nothing contained herein shall preclude a Team from having a Team Salary in excess of the Minimum Team Salary, provided that the Team’s Team Salary does not exceed the Salary Cap plus any additional amounts authorized pursuant to the Exceptions set forth in this Article VII.

(4) For purposes of determining whether a Team has met its Minimum Team Salary obligation for a Salary Cap Year in accordance with this Section 2(b), the Team’s Team Salary shall:

Spoiler:

(i) be calculated in the same manner as Team Salary is calculated by the Accountants for purposes of computing Total Salaries and Benefits in the Audit Report (as defined in Section 10(a)(1) below), except that with respect to each player that was employed by more than one (1) Team under the same Player Contract (i.e., in cases where a player’s Contract is acquired by trade or pursuant to the NBA waiver procedure) during the Salary Cap Year, the player’s Salary in respect of such Player Contract for the applicable Salary Cap Year shall be allocated as follows: (Y) the amount to be included in Team Salary for each such Team other than the last Team by which the player was employed under the same Player Contract shall equal the Salary in respect of the Player Contract for the applicable Salary Cap Year multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the total number of days of the Regular Season
that the player was on the roster of such Team and the denominator of which is the total number of days in such Regular Season (or, if the Contract was not in effect for the entire Regular Season, the number of days in such Regular Season during which the Contract was in effect); and (Z) the amount to be included in Team Salary for the last such Team by which the player was employed under the same Player Contract shall equal the player’s Salary in respect of the Player Contract less the amount of such Salary allocated to other Team(s) in accordance with clause (Y) above. For purposes of the foregoing calculation, any reduction in a player’s Salary for the applicable Salary Cap Year resulting from the termination of the player’s Contract shall be allocated to the last Team by which the player was employed under such Contract (after first performing the allocations described above before giving effect to such Salary reduction);
(ii) include any Salary in respect of such Salary Cap Year that is excluded from the Team’s Team Salary pursuant to Section 4(h) below; and
(iii) exclude any Salary in respect of such Salary Cap Year that is included in the Team’s Team Salary pursuant to Section 3(e) below.

Spoiler:

(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, if the sum of (i) the amount of a proposed payment distribution to a player for a Salary Cap Year pursuant to this Section 2(b), and (ii) the player’s Salary for such Salary Cap Year would exceed the player’s applicable Maximum Annual Salary for such Salary Cap Year, then such player’s proposed payment distribution for such Salary Cap Year pursuant to this Section 2(b) shall be reduced to the extent necessary for the sum of the player’s Salary and such distribution to equal his applicable Maximum Annual Salary for such Salary Cap Year, and the amount of such reduction shall be disbursed to the other players on the Team pro rata based upon each such player’s payment distribution amount under this Section 2(b) prior to any increases to such amount in accordance with this Section 2(b)(5). For purposes of this Section 2(b)(5): (i) a player’s Salary shall be calculated in the same manner as it is calculated by the Accountants for purposes of computing Total Salaries and Benefits in the Audit Report (as defined in Section 10(a)(1) below); and (ii) a player’s Maximum Annual Salary shall be deemed to be the amount calculated pursuant to Article II, Section 7(f)(i), (ii) or (iii) (as applicable) substituting references in such subsections to the “Salary Cap in effect at the time the trade bonus is earned” and “the Season prior to the Season in which the trade bonus is earned” with “Salary Cap in effect for the Season in which the Minimum Team Salary shortfall is incurred” and “the Season prior to the Season in which the shortfall is incurred,” respectively.

Spoiler:

(6) In accordance with Article IV, Section 6(d), the amount paid by Teams in respect of the employer’s portion of payroll taxes on payments made to players pursuant to this Section 2(b) shall be included in Benefits in the Salary Cap Year in which such payments are made.

Beast mode activated.



Honestly, we should have just not hit the floor and given the rest to Mitch

[Maury2423]

What time is the game tomorrow?

[Clyde_Style]

What time is the game tomorrow?

25 O'Clock

[thebuzzardman]

So BXMXTHECX (even faking this user name is hard) - when the salary gets distributed to other players, what are the implications?

I'm probably just being lazy, but I couldn't quite tease it out of the CBA stuff up there.

Do they just get a check (seems doubtful). Does their salary go up? (Seems unlikely). Does their base salary stay the same, but their cap hold number goes up?
Ex of last one: Mitch made 2 million (he didn't - just a round number). Knicks didn't sign Portis or Gibson or Bullock and those $ were distributed to everyone else. Let's say it was 30 million, and all 15 guys got 2 million each.

Would Mitch's next year's cap hit be 4 million?

Reasons I'm asking:

Not spending all the money and "distributing it" would be a way to circumvent the cap rules and cap holds if no penalty (again unlikely, as lots of teams would seem to want to do it)

Any negative repercussion of cap holds, along with just maybe wanting more players, might explain why a team would sign some more guys or thrown them some extra $ on a short contract.

[Clyde_Style]

da fuq does B8RcDeMktfxC mean though?

I can't get past Baiter

[HarthorneWingo]

da fuq does B8RcDeMktfxC mean though?

I can't get past Baiter

Thanks for breaking the ice.

[B8RcDeMktfxC]

So BXMXTHECX (even faking this user name is hard) - when the salary gets distributed to other players, what are the implications?

I'm probably just being lazy, but I couldn't quite tease it out of the CBA stuff up there.

Do they just get a check (seems doubtful). Does their salary go up? (Seems unlikely). Does their base salary stay the same, but their cap hold number goes up?

Let me stop you right here. The answer is, basically: they just get a check.

Certainly, their base salaries, cap hits, cap hold numbers etc remain unaffected. (Otherwise the team wouldn't be below the minimum salary.)

If, as of the last regular season game, the team salary is below 90% of the max then the difference is distributed to the players either pro rata or according to a formula the Players Associations agrees with.

There are no other effects. And that's easy to see. The issue at point is simply the team delivering moneys to the players for that specific season.

(This is the underlying motif to the CBA - it's about how the revenues will be distributed between the owners, collectively, and the players, collectively - everything else is details that may or may not be inherited and won't have any length of play longer than is useful for the primary purpose.)

It's a single season effect that is activated at the end of the regular season (and everything is settled within 60 days of that - so certainly before the next, July 1st beginning, year).

Ex of last one: Mitch made 2 million (he didn't - just a round number). Knicks didn't sign Portis or Gibson or Bullock and those $ were distributed to everyone else. Let's say it was 30 million, and all 15 guys got 2 million each.

Would Mitch's next year's cap hit be 4 million?

No. His cap hit would be whatever his contract says it was. ( fwiw in reality $1,56m for 2019-2020 and $1.66m for 2020-2021)

Reasons I'm asking:

Not spending all the money and "distributing it" would be a way to circumvent the cap rules and cap holds if no penalty (again unlikely, as lots of teams would seem to want to do it)

Any negative repercussion of cap holds, along with just maybe wanting more players, might explain why a team would sign some more guys or thrown them some extra $ on a short contract.

I found this bit hard to parse. So I'm not quite sure what you are asking. Try me again, perhaps?

The good thing about not spending the 90% is that you have space into which to trade. Plus you don't spend more than 90% of the cap overall as salaries. The bad thing is that you spent less than you could have done, so presumably your team is not as good as it could have been. Also the players don't know they are going to make more money than they thought. Also uncertainty about the distribution scheme.

[B8RcDeMktfxC]

Not spending all the money and "distributing it" would be a way to circumvent the cap rules and cap holds if no penalty (again unlikely, as lots of teams would seem to want to do it)

Any negative repercussion of cap holds, along with just maybe wanting more players, might explain why a team would sign some more guys or thrown them some extra $ on a short contract.

By "cap holds" do you mean "vacant roster charges" (or something similar). Because those are only really in play in pre-season when teams have fewer than 12 players on the books. By the time of accounting for meeting the minimum team salary teams will already have at least 14 players;.

Otoh, I'm sorry, I'm still struggling to understand the point you're making &/or what you are asking.

[B8RcDeMktfxC]

da fuq does B8RcDeMktfxC mean though?

I can't get past Baiter

Thanks for breaking the ice.

shoulda prolly gone with H8RcDeMktfxC

[Clyde_Style]

da fuq does B8RcDeMktfxC mean though?

I can't get past Baiter

Thanks for breaking the ice.

shoulda prolly gone with H8RcDeMktfxC

so what does the cDeMktfxC part say and mean?

[B8RcDeMktfxC]

Thanks for breaking the ice.

shoulda prolly gone with H8RcDeMktfxC

so what does the cDeMktfxC part say and mean?

This is a boring story.

1) I lurked for a long time (years)

2) Eventually took the plunge and made an account (with a non random(.org) name)

3) Posted sparsely

4) One day by chance discovered the friends/foe feature

5) Immediately put 4 or 5 people who I think are a net negative to read on foe - so I don't have to see their posts

6) Instantly was banned. Literally, within half an hour without posting anything.

7) No response from mods as to why over ~two weeks.

8) Try again with a random(.org) username to see if that helped avoid site-idiocy.

9) Here we are 1800 value-laden posts later.

:shrug:

But a rose is a rose by any other name. So now I'm this name that even I can't quote.

[thebuzzardman]

So BXMXTHECX (even faking this user name is hard) - when the salary gets distributed to other players, what are the implications?

I'm probably just being lazy, but I couldn't quite tease it out of the CBA stuff up there.

Do they just get a check (seems doubtful). Does their salary go up? (Seems unlikely). Does their base salary stay the same, but their cap hold number goes up?

Let me stop you right here. The answer is, basically: they just get a check.

Certainly, their base salaries, cap hits, cap hold numbers etc remain unaffected. (Otherwise the team wouldn't be below the minimum salary.)

If, as of the last regular season game, the team salary is below 90% of the max then the difference is distributed to the players either pro rata or according to a formula the Players Associations agrees with.

There are no other effects. And that's easy to see. The issue at point is simply the team delivering moneys to the players for that specific season.

(This is the underlying motif to the CBA - it's about how the revenues will be distributed between the owners, collectively, and the players, collectively - everything else is details that may or may not be inherited and won't have any length of play longer than is useful for the primary purpose.)

It's a single season effect that is activated at the end of the regular season (and everything is settled within 60 days of that - so certainly before the next, July 1st beginning, year).

Ex of last one: Mitch made 2 million (he didn't - just a round number). Knicks didn't sign Portis or Gibson or Bullock and those $ were distributed to everyone else. Let's say it was 30 million, and all 15 guys got 2 million each.

Would Mitch's next year's cap hit be 4 million?

No. His cap hit would be whatever his contract says it was. ( fwiw in reality $1,56m for 2019-2020 and $1.66m for 2020-2021)

Reasons I'm asking:

Not spending all the money and "distributing it" would be a way to circumvent the cap rules and cap holds if no penalty (again unlikely, as lots of teams would seem to want to do it)

Any negative repercussion of cap holds, along with just maybe wanting more players, might explain why a team would sign some more guys or thrown them some extra $ on a short contract.

I found this bit hard to parse. So I'm not quite sure what you are asking. Try me again, perhaps?

The good thing about not spending the 90% is that you have space into which to trade. Plus you don't spend more than 90% of the cap overall as salaries. The bad thing is that you spent less than you could have done, so presumably your team is not as good as it could have been. Also the players don't know they are going to make more money than they thought. Also uncertainty about the distribution scheme.

This basically answers the question, so I'll ignore the other post by you where you say I'm unclear.
In effect, the players and the team get to have the money distributed "no strings attached". Cap hold was the wrong term, but I'm referring to the idea that if a player got a 2 million dollar check, they maybe it raised the cap hit for the player NEXT season, as it could represent a form of "salary".

I get that if a team doesn't use the cap, it keeps open the ability to trade into it. Obviously, the converse, as you say, is potentially being "not as good", if the extra players worth "X" are an "X" improvement.

Obviously it's different than signing a player, as if a player has a 5 million $ contract for 3 years, that play knows he'll get 5 million for 3 years. I'm just pointing out it has an interesting potential for cap circumvention - meaning, the team still has to pay OUT the money (players association happy) but the team gets to save cap flexibility by not spending the money on traditional "contracts" - so, there could be a back channel conservation to the player/agent, where they let it be known that each player on the team will wind up with 2 million more per year, for one year only obviously, while a big market deep pockets team could do this, yet keep the cap room open, then later take on the 30 million dollar contract. Obviously it's a little arcane, but interesting it's an option.